Leviticus 21

Rules for Priests

21The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron,^b and say to them: ‘A priest must not make himself ceremonially unclean^c for any of his people who die,^{d 2}except for a close relative, such as his mother or father,^e his son or daughter, his brother, ³or an unmarried sister who is dependent on him since she has no husband—for her he may make himself unclean.^{f 4}He must not make himself unclean for people related to him by marriage,^a and so defile himself.

⁵“ ‘Priests must not shave^g their heads or shave off the edges of their beards^h or cut their bodies.^{i 6}They must be holy to their God^j and must not profane the name of their God.^k Because they present the food offerings to the Lord,^l the food of their God,^m they are to be holy.ⁿ

⁷“ ‘They must not marry women defiled by prostitution or divorced from their husbands,^o because priests are holy to their God.^{p 8}Regard them as holy,^q because they offer up the food of your God.^r Consider them holy, because I the Lord am holy—I who make you holy.^s

⁹“ ‘If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she disgraces her father; she must be burned in the fire.^t

¹⁰“ ‘The high priest, the one among his brothers who has had the anointing oil poured on his head^u and who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments,^v must not let his hair become unkempt^b or tear his clothes.^{w 11}He must not enter a place where there is a dead body.^x He must not make himself unclean,^y even for his father or mother,^{z 12}nor leave the sanctuary^a of his God or desecrate it, because he has been dedicated by the anointing oil^b of his God. I am the Lord.

¹³“ ‘The woman he marries must be a virgin.^{c 14}He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a woman defiled by prostitution, but only a virgin from his own people, ¹⁵so that he will not defile his offspring among his people. I am the Lord, who makes him holy.’ ”

¹⁶The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁷“Say to Aaron: ‘For the generations to come none of your descendants who has a defect^d may come near to offer the food of his God.^{e 18}No man who has any defect^f may come near: no man who is blind^g or lame,^h disfigured or deformed; ¹⁹no man with a crippled foot or hand, ²⁰or who is a hunchback or a dwarf, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles.^{i 21}No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect^j is to come near to present the food offerings to the Lord.^k He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God.^{l 22}He may eat the most holy food of his God,^m as well as the holy food; ²³yet because of his defect,ⁿ he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar, and so desecrate my sanctuary.^o I am the Lord, who makes them holy.^p’ ”

²⁴So Moses told this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.